A pear shaped body is one where the hips measure more than the bust. On the rule our body shape calculator uses, the hips have to be more than two inches wider. Some guides call the same shape a triangle. Either way it is a statement about two tape measurements and nothing else.
What is a pear body shape, in numbers?
Measure your bust around the fullest part and your hips around the widest part, then subtract. If the hips are ahead by more than two inches, the shape is a pear. In centimetres the line is about 5 cm.
The waist does not enter into it. A pear can have a sharply defined waist or a straight one, and the name stays the same, because the advice that follows is about the hip and thigh in both cases.
| Bust | Waist | Hips | Reads as | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | 26 | 36 | Pear | Hips 3 inches wider than the bust |
| 34 | 30 | 38 | Pear | Hips 4 inches wider |
| 36 | 30 | 40 | Pear | Hips 4 inches wider |
| 34 | 28 | 36 | Rectangle | Hips only 2 inches wider, which counts as level |
| 36 | 26 | 37 | Hourglass | Hips 1 inch wider, and a waist 10 under the bust |
Am I a pear or an hourglass?
Check the gap between bust and hips first. Two inches or less means they count as level, so you are not a pear, and the waist then decides between an hourglass and a rectangle. More than two inches and you are a pear, however small the waist is.
That last part surprises people. A 33-26-36 has a waist ten inches under the hips, and some calculators call it a bottom hourglass for that reason. Ours calls it a pear, because what it needs from clothes and from shapewear is the same as any other pear.
Is a pear shaped body good or bad?
Neither. It is a description. The width of the pelvis is bone, and no exercise or diet moves it, so the question of how to get rid of a pear shape has no real answer. Measurements can go up or down with weight and muscle, and a pear often stays a pear at a different size.
What the shape does change is shopping, which is the useful part.
Why do skirts and trousers decide the size?
Because the hip is the largest measurement, and a garment has to get over it. Trousers that fit the hip stand loose at the waist. Trousers that fit the waist do not go on.
Buy bottoms for the hip and have the waist taken in. It is a small alteration, and it works better than a belt, which gathers the spare fabric into a ridge at the back.
Dresses are harder, since they come in one size and a pear is often one size on top and another below. Separates solve that. So do cuts that are fitted to the bust and flare from the waist, since the flare does not care what the hip measures.
What should you wear on a pear shaped body?
The cuts that fit without alteration are the ones with room below the waist: A-line and flared skirts, fit-and-flare dresses, anarkalis, A-line kurtas, wide-leg and straight trousers with a high rise. A lehenga is this shape by design. A saree drapes to any hip.
Straight kurtas need side slits that start at the hip or higher, or they pull across the seat when you walk. Pencil skirts and bodycon dresses fit if you buy for the hip and expect to alter the top.
If you want the top half to look as wide as the bottom half, add to the shoulders: a boat neck, a puff sleeve, a structured shoulder, a printed or embellished blouse over a plain skirt. If you do not care about that, ignore it.
What should you wear underneath?
Shaping below the waist is what changes the line. A high-waisted short smooths the hip and the thigh in one piece, and that join is exactly what shows under a bodycon dress or a fitted skirt. The high-waisted thigh shaper shorts run from the waist to the upper thigh with a cotton gusset, and they come in two size runs, XS to L and XL to 3XL, so you choose by the size you normally wear in bottoms. The shorts guide explains why the high waist is what keeps them in place.
For a bodysuit, size by the hip. The shapewear size guide sets out why the hip row wins when waist and hip disagree, and on a pear they nearly always disagree. The size finder will read both numbers and say so if your hip is past the largest size we stock.
Above the waist there is room to add. A fabric uplift or a stick-on bra with the cups set a little wider apart brings the bust line up and out under a top without any padding. Get the cup right first with the bra size calculator, since both are sized by cup letter.
The short version
A pear is hips more than two inches wider than the bust, whatever the waist does. Bottoms decide your size, so buy for the hip and alter the waist, and prefer cuts that flare below it. Underneath, a high-waisted short does the most, and anything with a hip measurement on its chart should be sized by that number. Your own three measurements go into the body shape calculator if you want to check which side of the two inch line you are on.
